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The faith community includes some of the most brilliant minds in academe. Yet many have felt compelled to check their faith at the doors of our educational institutions. Intimidated by a daunting amalgam of naturalism and postmodernism, they have been silenced by secularists' insistence that faith has no place in the quest for knowledge. In Faith and Learning on the Edge, David Claerbaut refutes this fallacy. He shows how those who espouse a values-neutral approach to knowledge and research fail to live up to their own standard. In capitulating to them by separating faith from learning, Christians abdicate their responsibility toward both higher education and the culture at large. Believers must reintegrate their faith as a crucial component of learning, insists the author, and he explores ways in which this can be accomplished. Examining the worldviews that govern contemporary research and academe, Claerbaut unmasks the often vehement, sometimes subtle, disdain toward Christian thinking in both mainline universities and Christian institutions. More than that, he shows why believers who step in to fill the deep need for such thinking stand on firm intellectual ground---indeed, have the advantage in terms of fact and reason. And he considers how to apply a faith-and-learning approach across a broad spectrum of disciplines in the physical sciences, the arts and humanities, and the behavioral sciences. Praised by Protestant and Catholic scholars, Faith and Learning on the Edge looks at such issues as: Christian education versus 'baptized paganism' Naturalism, postmodernism, and their impact The high-stakes politics of the academic mainstream The nature of 'faith and learning' Being true to the role of learning in Christian scholarship The mindset of the Christian in the physical sciences Guidelines for the Christian artist Philosophy under a Christian lens Faith and the mental health models Sociology: faith in the eye of naturalism . . . and much more. For provosts, academic administrators, professors, college and graduate students, and everyone interested in the state of education, Faith and Learning on the Edge offers insights that are illuminating, convincing, and convicting.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...too many Christian intellectuals have fallen silent at precisely the moment when America most needs Christians to love God with the mind. Claerbaut's book should help stimulate a thoughtful examination of conscience.' -- David Lyle Jeffrey <br><br>

From the Back Cover

The faith community includes some of the most brilliant minds in academe. Yet many have felt compelled to check their faith at the doors of our educational institutions. Intimidated by a daunting amalgam of naturalism and postmodernism, they have been silenced by secularists insistence that faith has no place in the quest for knowledge.

In Faith and Learning on the Edge, David Claerbaut refutes this fallacy. He shows how those who espouse a values-neutral approach to knowledge and research fail to live up to their own standard. In capitulating to them by separating faith from learning, Christians abdicate their responsibility toward both higher education and the culture at large. Believers must reintegrate their faith as a crucial component of learning, insists the author, and he explores ways in which this can be accomplished.

Examining the worldviews that govern contemporary research and academe, Claerbaut unmasks the often vehement, sometimes subtle, disdain toward Christian thinking in both mainline universities and Christian institutions. More than that, he shows why believers who step in to fill the deep need for such thinking stand on firm intellectual groundindeed, have the advantage in terms of fact and reason. And he considers how to apply a faith-and-learning approach across a broad spectrum of disciplines in the physical sciences, the arts and humanities, and the behavioral sciences.

Praised by Protestant and Catholic scholars, Faith and Learning on the Edge looks at such issues as: Christian education versus "baptized paganism" Naturalism, postmodernism, and their impact The high-stakes politics of the academic mainstream The nature of "faith and learning" Being true to the role of learning in Christian scholarship The mindset of the Christian in the physical sciences Guidelines for the Christian artist Philosophy under a Christian lens Faith and the mental health models Sociology: faith in the eye of naturalism . . . and much more.

For provosts, academic administrators, professors, college and graduate students, and everyone interested in the state of education, Faith and Learning on the Edge offers insights that are illuminating, convincing, and convicting.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

The experience of advancing through the ranks of a Tool and Die Machine Detailer to an Associate Mechanical Engineer in the Department of Research and Development, as a woman in a non-traditional vocation, over the course of twenty years proved to be a very interesting and challenging life choice. My faith in God and His guidance lead me to leave this field and enter into a higher education profession at a secular college. Here I asked myself the following question. Where do I stand on the battlefield between my alliance with God and the sphere of higher education? This time, God's answer led me to an excellent text, Faith and learning on the edge: A bold new look at religion in higher education by renowned professor and writer, Doctor David Claerbaut. His answer to my question is very simple, "...-that one's scholarly vocation is not complete unless it includes an ongoing effort at integrating one's faith with one's academic pursuits." (Claerbaut, page 134)

Dr. Claerbaut not only presents provocative and persuasive arguments for the integration of faith, truth, and learning onto Christian and secular campuses, but also supplies a foundation for applying these principles in the classroom and research arenas. He reminds us that we are preparing our graduates to go into the "... culture-shaping professions." (Claerbaut, page 131) Why should this be a concern for us Christian professors? Dr. Claerbaut provides three components for the integration of Christian scholarship: 1. Philosophical- (an established viable intellectual Christian alternative in mainstream academia), 2. Critiquing (a review of established paradigms from an intellectual defendable Christian perspective of truth), and 3. Theory building (an intellectually valid confident truth presented to listeners of various beliefs). There needs to be solid models of Christian thoughts.